Alleviation
by Vesja
Summary: Sometimes you can't solve your problems yourself. You need someone else to provide the alleviation. And when Kate throws herself into a case and her shell, almost forgetting herself, there's someone there for her. Rating might change.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Don't own.  
>AN: I have no idea what the level of French is in the US, so it's a basic grammar lecture. Oh well. This fic is dedicated to madsthenerdygirl._

Kate was watching CNN when her phone rang. A picture of Rick with Royal was flashing at her as her phone played 'I'm too sexy'.  
>"When the heck did you change my ringtone Castle?" she snarled.<br>"Good afternoon to you too, Beckett. Yesterday, when you were getting yelled at by our favorite captain." Kate rolled her eyes.  
>"Whaddaya want, Castle?" the detective asked.<br>"Alexis is having difficulties with her French, and you know French, right? So I was wondering if you'd be convinced to help her by inviting you over for dinner tonight."  
>"I'd help her anyway, Castle. But dinner sounds nice. When should I be at the loft?" she asked, smiling.<br>"Six-thirty okay for you?"  
>"Sure, I'll be there."<br>"Thanks, Kate."  
>"Don't mention it." She hung up.<p>

Looking at her attire, she decided she needed a shower and a change of clothes. They took down a killer in the park today. When they closed in on him, he'd started running, so eventually Kate had caught him by tackling him. It had been hell for her hair though. She stripped and turned the spray on. Waiting for the water to warm up, Kate looked at her reflection in the mirror. She'd lost weight. A lot of weight. She could see her ribs poking out and could see the outline of her hipbones. Tracing the scars under her breasts and on her abdomen she observed her body's reaction.

Since the shooting she hadn't been able to…God, she didn't even want to think about it. She was frustrated alright, but the release never…came.

She stepped under the comforting spray and watched the dirt leave her skin. Kate grabbed her favorite magnolia-scented shampoo. She spread the substance through her curls and gently massaged her scalp. After a while she let the water remove the sand from her hair. Then she applied conditioner. Letting it set in, she lathered her entire body with shower cream and let the water cascade on her tired muscles.

Ten minutes later she was drying off, carefully touching the scars. The warmth made them pull. As she bent over to dry her left calf the scar on her right side was stretched. She winced in pain.

Entering her bedroom Kate went to her closet. She slipped into a comfortable pair of panties and a T-shirt bra. They were gentle on her skin, so she'd been wearing them a lot lately. She grabbed a dark green turtleneck and a charcoal grey pair of slacks and put them on.  
>So now what. She had almost an hour left. She'd go watch French TV, to revive her French. Kate switched the TV to the right channel and the annoying tune of the TV5Monde news sounded throughout her apartment.<br>_"Bonjourmesdamesetmessieurs…_" a blond woman with an exaggerated smile on her face greeted the audience. Oh yeah. They spoke French quite fast on TV5. She switched to another channel. It was JAG, dubbed in French. Why the heck not.

At 6:31 Kate entered the loft.  
>"Ah! Kate! Welcome!" Martha said, enveloping her in a hug. Kate hugged her back, staying in the comforting warmth just a little longer than necessary.<br>"Beckett! Glad you could make it," Rick called from the kitchen. Martha took Kate's coat and ushered her towards her son.  
>"Richard! Pour the girl a glass of wine, dear."<br>Rick was standing in front of the stove.  
>"Just one second…" He stirred a red sauce and threw some onion in the pan. Then he turned around and poured Kate a glass of Merlot. The dark red liquid swirled marvelously and the tears looked beautiful in the crystal glass.<br>"Thanks." Kate took a sip and the light bitterness left a wonderful taste on her tongue.

A while later Martha, Alexis, Rick and Kate were enjoying Rick's spaghetti Bolognese.  
>"Castle, this is heavenly," Kate said, closing her eyes as she savored the taste. She could distinguish tomatoes, onions, carrots and so much more. This was a lot better than her average dinners. Those usually consisted of either throwing take-out leftovers into the microwave or a sandwich with whatever she could find.<br>"Dad, detective Beckett's right. This tastes so good."  
>"I agree Richard." Rick's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.<br>"Anything for my three favorite women."

An hour later Alexis and Kate were sitting at the bar in the kitchen.  
>"So if you're just talking about the pas, you use the passé composé, but if you're describing a situation or if you want to say how you felt at that moment, you use the imparfait."<br>"So…if I wanted to say I went to France and the weather was nice?" Alexis asked.  
>"<em>Je suis allée en France et il faisait beau.<em>"  
>"But how do I know whether to use être or avoir in the passé composé?" Alexis asked the brunette.<br>"Basically you use avoir. But if a verb expresses movement: partir, venir, aller, and don't forget naître and mourir, you use être," Kate explained.  
>"So…" Alexis wrote something down.<p>

_Je suis né en 1993._

"Like that?"  
>"Yep. But don't forget, you're a girl. And since we're using être, you add an E for feminine and an S for plural. You don't do that if you're using avoir. So could you try: The girls went to Paris?"<p>

_Les filles sont allées à Paris._

"Great! Now a harder one: Rick and Martha went to England."

_Rick et Martha sont allé_"Huh? But do I add an E or not?" Alexis asked, suddenly stopping. Kate smiled.  
>"Since there's a guy there, you don't add an E. Even if you were talking about 99 girls and one guy, you don't add the E."<p>

_Rick et Martha sont allés en Angleterre_.

"Wonderful!"  
>They tried a few more sentences.<p>

"I think I get it now. Thanks, detective Beckett," Alexis said, giving Kate a hug. Kate shook her head and told her: "Once more Alexis, call me Kate." Alexis nodded.  
>"Okay…Kate."<p>

Later that evening Alexis had gone to bed and Martha was on her way to a party. She'd yelled: "Don't wait for me, I'll be back tomorrow morning. I'm staying at George's!" Then, accompanied by a lot of noise she'd exited the loft. Kate and Rick were sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee.  
>"Thanks, Kate." She looked up at him. She had her legs tucked under her and was leaning against one of the huge pillows.<br>"For what?" she asked.  
>"For helping Alexis. And by the way, the way French leaves your mouth…it's amazing." She swatted his arm and smiled. Feeling bold, she said: "<em>Pas de quoi. <em>_Alors, tu aimes le français mais tu ne le parles pas. Moi, j'aime ce fait là. Maintenant j'ai une possibilité de gagner ton cœur. Je peux dire ce que je voudrais._"  
>Rick smiled.<br>"_Je n'ai jamais dit que je ne parle pas français,_" he said.  
>"What?"<br>"Kate, do I really have to translate that for you? Alright. I never said I didn't speak French. I'm just a disaster when it comes to French grammar. But Kate, you've already won my heart," he stated, moving towards her.  
>"<em>Et tu as déjà gagné le mien,<em>" Kate admitted, almost closing the distance between them.

"Rick?"  
>"Yeah?"<br>"I'm scared. I don't want to mess this up."  
>"So am I. Scared as hell. Do you want to stop?"<br>"No," she said, finally closing the distance, pressing her lips against his. His hands found the small of her back and gently pulled her against him. Their kiss stayed sweet and relaxed. Rick lay back and broke the connection of their lips. Kate turned around in his arms, resting her head on his muscular chest.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" he asked.  
>"Nah, I'm good."<br>He kissed the top of her head and stated: "This feels so great, having you in my arms."  
>"I know."<p>

Rick began massaging Kate's shoulders. She relaxed in his arms and let out a soft sigh. She whispered: "Thank you." He just smiled and continued. After a while Kate's eyes started drooping.  
>She yawned.<br>"I should go home."  
>"There's no way I'm letting you drive home like this," Rick said, motioning for her to get up. When they were both standing, Rick led her into his bedroom. He got an old shirt out and handed it to Kate, along with a pair of boxers.<br>"Go ahead and use the bathroom. I'll be in the guest bathroom upstairs, taking a shower." Kate looked at Rick, bewildered.  
>He left the room, leaving her by herself. Kate took the clothes into the adjacent bathroom. She was standing in front of the sink, trying to comprehend what had just happened when Rick knocked on the door.<br>"Kate? Can I come in? I need something." Kate cleared her throat.  
>"Yeah, sure." He entered and grabbed his toothbrush and some bottles out of the shower. He exchanged them for a new, packaged toothbrush and two purple bottles.<br>"Feel free to take a shower. I'll be back in about 20 minutes." Rick left the room again. Kate felt unsure, almost overwhelmed. Shrugging it off she turned the shower on. It might be her second shower of the day, but why not?

Fifteen minutes later Kate had showered and was drying her body off with an extremely fluffy dark red towel. She was tired, which meant her scars were pulling even worse than they normally did. As she was drying her hair she made a wrong move. Tears sprang to her eyes and she let out a soft wail. Kate continued drying off, but stretched the same scar again. Fuck. That hurt. The tears slowly started flowing and she collapsed onto the cold tiles. She didn't care anymore, it just hurt.

"Kate?"  
>She tried to answer, but the pain was just excruciating.<br>"Kate? I'm coming in."


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: Don't own_

Chapter 2

As Rick entered the bathroom, surprised at the fact that Kate hadn't locked the door, he immediately made his way to her. His hart broke when he saw her. She was shaking, and she looked so fragile. He sat down next to her and pulled her onto his lap, trying not to hurt her. When she was settled against his chest he covered her with the towel. Blood-red. How ironic.

Rick gently rocked Kate and softly stroked her back. He moved his hand in a circular motion, never missing a beat. After some time, he had no idea how long, Kate's wails had reduced to soft sobs every now and then. She let out a shaky breath and laid her head against his thorax, listening to the steady beating of his heart.

"What happened?" he asked, still stroking her back.  
>"I was drying off and moved the wrong way. The scars usually hurt, but this was just…" Thinking about it made tears well in her eyes once more.<br>"Shh, you're okay now," he said, kissing her forehead, "which one was it?"  
>"Here."<p>

She pulled the towel away from her right side and showed him the linear scar. He examined it carefully.  
>"Oh Kate…the skin around it is actually damaged. No wonder you were in pain. We'll have to put a bandage on it." He stood up, carrying her. In his bedroom he gingerly laid her on his bed.<p>

"I'll be right back." He went into his office, got the supplies he needed and returned to Kate. Without saying a word he applied a bandage to the now somewhat bleeding skin. When he was done, he placed a kiss just above the bandage. Kate whispered: "Thank you." Rick just smiled. He got the bundle of clothes from the bedroom and helped Kate into them, making sure she didn't strain her scars more than necessary.

She crawled under the covers. Rick left the room to turn out the lights in the office. Returning, he found Kate watching him, her brown tresses splayed across the dark grey pillowcase. Rick got under the covers and mirrored her position, observing her every movement. They lay like that for a while. She was the first to speak.  
>"Hey."<br>"Hey yourself."  
>"Thank you."<br>"That's the third time you've said that tonight. You're welcome." She smiled ever so slightly and he brought his index finger up to her cheek. As he softly stroked her malar bone her eyes fluttered closed.  
>"Goodnight Kate." She moved closer to him and he cradled her in his arms.<br>"Night."  
>Within a few minutes her breathing evened out. He pressed a final kiss onto her hair and closed his eyes, letting Pasitheia take her reign.<p>

The next morning Rick was making breakfast when he heard a soft padding of feet. Alexis' gait had a different rhythm and his mother was, well, somewhere, so it could be only one person.  
>"Morning Kate," he said without turning around.<br>"Good morning," she replied, taking a seat on one of the barstools.  
>"D'you like blueberry bunny pancakes, detective?" he asked, turning around.<br>"Drop the detective, Castle. I love blueberry pancakes. But rabbit pancakes, seriously?"  
>"Drop the Castle, Kate. And yes, I am very serious about the <em>bunny<em> pancakes."  
>"Ooh! Bunny pancakes?" Alexis' voice could be heard from the top of the stairs. She came rushing down, almost losing her bag and her balance in the process. As she entered the kitchen area she nearly barged into Kate.<br>"Oh! Good morning Kate."  
>"Hi Alexis. Did you sleep well?"<br>"Yeah. You?"  
>"Could've been better," Kate answered honestly.<br>"I'm sorry to hear that. But there's nothing dad's blueberry bunny pancakes can't fix! Or at least not a lot."  
>"Well it's good that they're done then," Rick said, setting a huge pile of pancakes in front of them. Alexis got out plates and cutlery and Rick grabbed maple syrup and Nutella.<br>"Nutella?" Kate asked.  
>"It's really good on them. It's like you're eating a thick crêpe. With blueberries," Alexis explained. Kate nodded. It made sense…sort of. Rick served them all a pancake. And indeed, they had ears, and eyes, and a smile. Kate chuckled.<br>"I knew you'd like them!" Rick exclaimed.  
>"We'll see about that, kitten," Kate retorted. She poured some syrup onto the pancake and took a bite.<p>

Oh. Wow. Jeesh.  
>She tried to keep a straight face. It wasn't working. The Castles were staring at her.<br>"Okay. They're delicious," Kate admitted. Rick did a fistpump and fed the birds with Alexis. The adorkable nine-year-old was back.  
>Hold on. Adorkable? She must be tired. Very tired.<p>

The three of them dug in. After a while Alexis left for school. No more than five minutes later Martha entered the loft, once again with a lot of noise, pizzazz and…people? Now that was a new one.  
>"Ah! Richard! I need to give my classes here today…oh hello Kate! Now, apparently there's been a murder in the street where my acting school is, and I really don't like the vibe that's hanging there now. And all of the police officers making a lot of noise…speaking of which, I was expecting you to be there. I saw doctor Parish there."<br>"What?" Kate asked, "Castle, where's my phone?" He thought for a second.  
>"Bathroom!"<p>

Kate hurried to the bathroom and got her phone out of the pocket of her slacks. Five missed calls. Espo was going to kill her. She pressed 'call back'.

"Yo Beckett, where've you been?"  
>"I'm sorry Esposito, my phone was on vibrate and I couldn't find it."<br>"Alright, well, there's a murder at 115 East 15th Street. Ryan and I are already there. Looks like a simple hit and run."  
>"I'll be right there."<br>"Oh, and Beckett, we can't reach Castle either."  
>"Er…I'll find a way to contact him. I'll be there in twenty."<br>"Yo."

Kate hung up.  
>"Castle, get dressed. We've got a case."<p>

**A/N: This fic was written with Beckett's apartment at Franklin & Hudson and Castle's loft at 425 Broome. Martha's acting school stole the location of The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.  
>Since the 12<strong>**th**** precinct doesn't actually exist, I've chosen a random location for the murder.**

**I'm not one to ask for reviews, but they make my day and motivate me a lot. So if you wouldn't mind, please comment!**


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